Episode Summary

Sarah's transaction to buy the Turk from a mysterious businessman gets very complicated. Elsewhere, Cromartie closes in on John's location, and Agent Ellison closes in on the Terminator he knows as Laszlo. Unfortunately, events spiral out of control, leaving a wake of destruction from which some will not survive.

One of the best.

I hate the cliffhangers. It's too stressful just waiting to see what happens next. The idea that comes from John's birthday, the importance of life is well written. In this episode there is a good balance between hope (celebrating a birtday) and desperation (judgment day, cromartie, fear of death). The scene at the park, John and his uncle Derek are watching the youngest Kyle and Derek, was awesome and also so emotional.Garret Dillahunt is a good actor and he really did a great jog by playing Cromartie. I believe that almost he is a cyborg.And, Agent Ellison finally sees everything his own eyes. Derek knows the truth about John's identity.moreless

What the hell is Dan from Eastenders doing in this?

I love this program sooo damn much and when I watched this episode I squirming and shouting at the screen just as much as ever! Bizarrely (for me) Craig Fairbrass who played Dan in Eastenders (a dreary British soap set in the east end of London-where I live incidentally and it is nothing like that) is in this. Oh how he plays the bad guy so well... I was being sarcastic there but he is actually good in this lol.There where too many good things in this episode so here is my summary of the best bits!:1. Cameron is standing next a nice looking (BMW I think) car and Johns friend says, wow is that your car?Cameron replies, no its the man I killed's car. Hes in the trunk. Shes not joking.Johns friend then plucks up the courage to ask her to the prom (boy is he going to get a surprise if he tries to cop a quick feel.)2. Sarah, John, Derek and Cameron go after (fake) Sarkissianin in his internet cafe-come-mob-den and he runs away like a little ****y and hides away in a little room.Sarah: can you get through that door?Cameron: Yes but it'll be quicker to go through the wall.Proceeds to then punch through the brick wall!3. Derek brings out (fake) Sarkissian's daughter as a hostage to save John who is being held at gun point by (fake) Sarkissian! The look on the young actresses face was priceless. Derek then shoots (fake) Sarkissian in the head narrowly missing John.What I don't get is that the daughter later says that that wasn't her daddy but anyway.4. Ellison (you idiot) then decides to go after Cromatie with 20 armed FBI men knowing full well Cromatie is a cyborg. A massacre ensues. Cromatie lets Ellison live for some unknown robot reason. Perhaps it doesnt suit his mission eh?5. Derek's birthday present to John: He takes him to a park to see young Derek and Kyle (5 years old) his future dad. Had to be the best moment of the season when John realises who its is. Derek also reveals he knew all along that Kyle is John father (boy I feel sorry for anyone that hasn't watched Judgement Day..)6. No wait, this was the best moment. Cameron is going to the Jeep to go and get John a birthday cake just as John discovers the true identity of Sarkissian on the hard drive. We see the real Sarkissian slinking away just as Cameron turns the key and Ka-booom! up it goes. I was shouting at this point I can tell ya.Is she dead? is she ok? ...well I already know since I watched episode 1 of the second season straight after I couldn't wait!moreless

Sarah and John go to war with the mysterious faction that bought the Turk. The FBI closes in on Cromartie, unfortunately for them.

This faux season finale is sort of a mess through the first 40 minutes. Great acting and some brilliant dialogue throughout though, as usual. Ellison's Bible quoting makes much more sense here than it did in The Demon Hand. Charley gets the drift, but does his best to keep his mouth shut. This decision and Ellison's own eventually leads to the disaster at the end. Once again, very well acted and well written scene.Though I certainly have no issues with the acting or the dialogue of the Sarkisian subplot, some of the writing, as far as story goes, just doesn't make a lot of sense. The highlight of the idiocy is when Cameron decides to hammer through a cement block wall instead of simply kicking in a door. Go figure. Okay, with that mess finally over, the episode goes to another level with its last three scenes. The scene at the park between Derek and John was one of the best scenes in the series up until this point, and probably the most emotional. Derek finally showed a human side to his character and became much more likable. I admit that the first time I saw the scene where the FBI attempts to arrest Cromartie, I was disappointed. I had wanted to see the action, bullets fly. However, watching it a second time, I am very impressed by how the director turned this scene into something extremely unique with the Johnny Cash song and the shots from the bottom of the pool. VERY cool. Pretty shocking how Cromartie walks away from Ellison at the end. I have always thought that was a brilliant idea. Ellison can still do some good things for Cromartie, hopefully by finding Sarah. Apparently, either Ellison wasn't completely a true believer yet, or he was just unaware of the kind of firepower it would take to take down a cyborg. He should have read into past events from T1 and T2. He would have known better.The final scene for me almost did more to irritate me with the show than make me want to watch more. INCREDIBLY convenient that Cameron happened to be the one sent for the cake. And, of course, you know she won't be disabled by that one blast. Getting rid of her character pretty much would have been series suicide at that point. Fortunately, whether it all added up or not, and I don't think it does, it DID set up a fantastic Season 2 premiere episode.moreless

John has to decrypt about a 1000 files, he's supposed to be a computer wiz, but he does this decryption manually, file by file, on Windows!

There is one strange occurrence in this episode, quite out of character for John Connor: John has to decrypt about a 1000 files, each takes some 5 minutes. 5000 minutes is almost 3 and a half days. Now, john is supposed to be a computer wiz/hacker, but he does this decryption manually, file by file, on Windows! He does not use a decent operating system (e.g, Linux, or even using cygwin on Windows), he does not even write some scripts to automate the decryption task: he's just going to sit there, for 3 days straight, and do this decryption manually. Now, that's not a computer wiz.moreless

Between mission and life

This episode really lovely shows again that they are just people and despite trying to save the world they are ordinary people - they do have birthdays and the way that theme just followed trough all the action packed episode - from the field trip to the explosion in the end, that park scene in the middle - it was just such a brilliant scene. I think best of the whole season and the concept - meeting first time his dad - as a little boy.And the whole catch for Turk.. and then the storyline with agent Ellison. Finally that seemed to get a connection - he is more and more realizing what he is in and that scene there.. with Cash song and that stunning camera work from below water.. amazing.I really love the way they ended this season.moreless

Charley Dixon

Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (7)

Goof: When John and Derek watch Young Derek and Kyle play baseball in the park, Young Derek hits the ball and it travels past the right of Young Kyle. In the next shot, though, Young Kyle runs left to retrieve the ball.

Goof: During the raid when you see the final FBI agent land in the water he is supposed to be sinking to the bottom of the pool. However, he is breathing in air bubbles and it is clear the shot was just played back in reverse.

John mentions Moore's Law. Every two years the number of transistors on a chip double. He continues about "the guy who founded Intel" quoting this law. Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel, phrased in 1965, that the complexity of a circuit doubles every year. In 1975 he corrected it to "every two years".

Judgement Day is revealed to be April 21, 2011 at the beginning of the episode. The last known date for Judgement Day was given during T3, which was July 24, 2004. Prior to that it was August 29, 1997.

Derek: (watching young Kyle play) Throws pretty good for a five year old, huh? Your father always had a nice arm.John: (tearing up) How'd you know?Derek: Every time I look at you I see him. Besides, your mom's his type. Happy Birthday.

Derek: (about the park) It's beautiful here, isn't it? Y'know, you stay here long enough you fool yourself into thinking this is how it's always gonna be. Then you remember what this place'll look like when it's on fire and you realize you'll do whatever it takes to keep from watching it burn again.

Sarah: (to Charley) Do you remember what you saw here? What we destroyed, who destroyed it? The FBI can't protect us, you can't protect us. If one of them follows you here - not the FBI, one of them - you'll have killed us. So take your wife, get as far away from here as you can. Forget me. Forget John. Just go.

Ellison: If Sarah is alive, and I believe she is, we are working in a realm where much, perhaps anything is possible- robots, soldiers from the future, Skynet.Charley: If Sarah were alive, I'm sure she'd like to hear you say that.

Sarah Connor: (Closing narration) In Lord of the Flies, a group of boys slaughter a pig in the jungle. They torture it and place its head on a sharpened stake as an offering to the beast that hovers, god-like, over the island. Black blood drips down the pig's teeth. And the boys run away. Later, when one of the boys is alone, he weeps. But not for the pig. The boy weeps for the end of innocence and the darkness of men's hearts.

Derek: So it's your birthday.John: Yeah, how'd you know?Derek: You kidding? I celebrated your 30th with you.John: How was that?Derek: You got drunk as a skunk. Come on. I'll buy you a beer.John: I'm 16.Derek: All right, I'll buy you an ice cream cone. Come on.

John: Look, he double-encrypted the drive. I've unlocked a lot of it, but there's still a lot left to go through.Sarah: How much?John: That's about a thousand useful files. Each one takes about five minutes to decrypt and I'm on number 37. You do the math.

Greta Simpson: George Lazlo's a better actor than we thought.James Ellison: That's not Lazlo.Greta Simpson: James, are we looking at the same picture here? This is your guy. It's Lazlo.James Ellison: The blood doesn't match.Greta Simpson: Come on, what are you saying? That this guy somehow killed six people and then found a plastic surgeon who made him look identical to George Lazlo? And then what? Killed Lazlo, stole his identity, and then put himself in the FBI Database as this guy, Kester? To what end? What's the goal here? Who is he?James Ellison: What is he?Greta Simpson: What is he?James Ellison: Yeah. What is he? What is he, that stands across from a man after killing two other men within 36 hours. And when asked of his involvement, cannot only lie, but lie well? And not only lie well, but not blink or twitch or perform one simple human reaction to the situation. So, yes, I think it's fair to ask: What is he?

Cameron: You haven't spoken for 28 minutes.John: Well, it's nothing. All right, my birthday's tomorrow, okay? I know that mom totally forgot.Cameron: Birthday?John: Hey, you don't know what a birthday is?Cameron: It's the day you were born.John: Pretty memorable for a mother, right?Cameron: But it was 16 years ago.John: No, a birthday's like a holiday. Like once a year, every year, people just kind of celebrate you, I guess. And you get presents and you eat cake and it's fun. It's supposed to be. Last year, mom got me a flak jacket.Cameron: That's a tight present.John: No, it's not. Whatever, look, I don't know why I care. I've been driving since I was 12, and, technically, this is my 24th birthday. It's just I time traveled over eight of them.Cameron: Do I have a birthday?John: I don't know. Were you born?Cameron: I was built.John: Well, then, maybe you have like a built day.

Sarkissian: If I was gonna sell you the Turk, you'd have had it by now. So this is my counter offer, the money you was gonna pay me for the Turk, you take that number and you multiply it by four.Sarah: $2 million?Sarkissian: You're a fugitive, Ms. Connor. Might make that a small price for freedom.(Derek grabs him and throws him against the wall)Derek: Here's my counter offer. You tell us where the Turk is, we keep our money, and I bury you in the back yard.

Derek: I love these places.Sarah: Food courts?Derek: First day after me and the guys jumped through, we went to the Century City mall and we spent the whole day there. We all puked. You know, the funny thing, in the future, that place is a concentration camp.

Derek: You can't just give a briefcase full of money to a guy like that and expect he's just gonna hand over the Turk.Sarah: Actually, I can.Derek: (About the diamonds) Well, those are from the safe house I set up, so, technically, they're mine.Sarah: Well, I'm guessing you stole them, so, technically, they're evidence in a felony.

James Ellison: And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. And I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, 'come and see'. And I looked. And behold, a pale horse. And his name that sat on him was death. And hell followed with him.

John: Moore's Law.Derek: What?John: Moore's Law. The guy who founded Intel said that every two years, the number of transistors on a computer chip doubles. 30 years ago, it was an observation, now it's a law. Tech industry spent billions doubling chip power.Derek: And?John: And that's how we can go from a chess computer to the apocalypse in just four years.

Sarah Connor: (Opening narration) When John was little, he used to sleep with his hand under my chin. At night, I lay awake watching him. Calm, peaceful, happy. I wanted to freeze time and let my son live in that moment forever. But you can't freeze time. You can't protect your children from the future that awaits them. The moment's there and then, it's gone.

Derek: Remind me again, why are the boys out here and the girls in there?John: Because one of the boys is still wanted for murder and one of the girls is harder than nuclear nails...Derek: And the other one's a cyborg.

Original International Air Dates:United Kingdom: April 10th, 2008 on Virgin 1Australia: April 15th, 2008 on Channel 9Russia: April 18th, 2008 on Ren-TVIndia: May 6th, 2008 on Zee CafeSweden: June 23rd, 2008 on TV3Denmark: June 27th, 2008 on TV3New Zealand: July 2nd, 2008 on TV2Czech Republic: August 29th, 2008 on PrimaNorway: October 20th, 2008 on TVNorgeFinland: January 5th, 2009 on SubPoland: January 8th, 2009 on TVP1Slovakia: August 5th, 2010 on Markiza

At Enrique's nephew's house hangs a sword with the inscription Los Niños Héroes. Los Niños Héroes (the "Boy Heroes" or "Heroic Cadets") were six teenage military cadets who died defending Mexico at Mexico City's Chapultepec Castle (then serving as the Mexican army's military academy) from invading U.S. forces in the September 13, 1847 Battle of Chapultepec. Their commanders, General Nicolás Bravo and General José Mariano Monterde, had ordered them to fall back from Chapultepec but the cadets did not; instead, they resisted the invaders until they were killed, with accounts maintaining that the last survivor leapt from Chapultepec Castle wrapped in the Mexican flag to prevent it from being taken by the enemy. The cadets are honored by an imposing monument at the entrance to Chapultepec Park; and the name Niños Héroes, along with the cadets' individual names, are commonly given to streets, squares and schools across the country. For many years they appeared on the MXP $5000 banknote, and they currently appear on the MXN $50 coin. Metro Niños Héroes the Mexico City Metro is also named after them.

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